Saint Vitus
Saint Vitus are a doom metal band originally from Los Angeles, California with members currently residing in California and New Orleans. Forming in 1979, the band has been regarded and credited as one of the first bands of the genre along with Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Trouble and Pagan Altar. Vitus are also well-known for their distinctive guitar tone and differing era of singers complimenting dark lyrics. They have released eight studio albums to date. Although Saint Vitus never achieved a popular breakthrough, the band is considered very influential within the doom and sludge metal subgenres. The band's name is said to have come from the Black Sabbath song "St. Vitus Dance". History Initial Lineup with Scott Reagers (1978 - 1985) The band was formed in 1979 under the name Tyrant, with the lineup of Chandler (Guitar, Vocals), Adams (Bass) and Acosta (Drums) before Scott Reagers joined on as vocalist. From there, they changed their name to Saint Vitus in 1980 after the Black Sabbath song St. Vitus Dance and as a means to not "deal with the satanic bullshit at the time".ExtreminalAccessed 14 February 22017 Their main influences were Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Blue Cheer and Black Flag, the latter of which Saint Vitus would tour with during the 1980s. The band would play their first live show in August 1979. Greg Ginn of Black Flag would sign the band to SST, a label that typically had hardcore punk bands. The original lineup would take recordings in 1982 and release them as Saint Vitus in 1984 with a follow-up album and EP in Hallow's Victim and The Walking Dead in 1985. The band toured with Black Flag in December 1984 to hostile audiences but by the time they toured again in '85 they won a lot of crowds over. At some point in 1985, the band got word of Scott Weinrich via The Obsessed through tape trading. At a show in D.C. the band met Weinrich who gave them money and gas for food to which at that point Reagers asked him if he'd be the new singer. Meanwhile, Reagers had been meaning to get out of the band, mainly citing personal responsibilities and an accident where Reagers was left behind at a bus stop. The band would do a handful more shows with Reagers with Chandler finishing the tour on vocals. Some of his last performances with the band at this point had him doing new songs such as "The War Starter" and "H.A.A.G." while writing a song called "Born Too Late" with Chandler.Issue 65 March 2010, Pg. 58 Scott "Wino" Weinrich era (1986 - 1991) After the dissolution of The Obsessed, Wino would move to L.A. and join the band in early 1986, with his first performance with the band being on 16 May that year at the Palm Springs Community Center. Around the same time that year the band would record their third album (and first with Wino), releasing Born Too Late in October. This record has proven to be a seminal record in the makings of doom metal and the title track an iconic Vitus song. Tbe band would tour in support of the album in 1986. As a nod to Black Flag and the band that got their start on the road, they would cover one of their songs and release it as the Thirsty and Miserable EP in 1987. The band's fourth album Mournful Cries would follow in 1988, proving to be their final release with SST Records. Learning of an overseas fanbase, Vitus would sign with German label Hellhound Records. The band would tour Europe for the first known time in 1989 and follow-up with a tour of the country again in 1990. In the meantime the band released their fifth album V''' and their first live album '''Live in 1990. When Hellhound released the first album by The Obsessed, Wino would choose to leave the group to reform the band with Scott Reeder and Greg Rogers. SST would also release a "best-of" compilation entitled Heavier Than Thou in 1991. C.O.D., Die Healing and Breakup (1992 - 1995) Saint Vitus would recruit Count Raven vocalist Christian "Chritus" Linderson in 1992 and record their sixth album C.O.D. (Or Children of Doom). The band would tour Europe in 1992 and the southeast USA in 1993 with Internal Void. Chritus would be replaced by original singer Scott Reagers in 1994. Personal issues weighed on the band so the band expressed an interest in doing one final album. Vitus would fly to Berlin to record their seventh album and play one intimate show in between the recording sessions. The band would tour Europe in 1995 (With Reagers' first tour overseas) as Die Healing was released that same year, an album Chandler personally cites as one of his finest efforts. Saint Vitus would then break up in 1996 due to internal conflicts. Reagers and Adams would quit the music scene. Acosta would remain active with various bands. Chandler would also stay out of the music business until Ron Holzner convinced him to form a new band in 2001: Debris Inc.. Reunions (2003, 2009) In 2002, Debris Inc. would perform at Wacken Open Air and play two Saint Vitus songs (Dying Inside and Born Too Late) to close out their set to a positive reaction. In an interview with Westword, Dave Chandler would speak about how this performance would lead to the 2003 reunion shows: The lineup of Chandler, Adams, Acosta and Wino would perform at the Double Door in Chicago on 1 July 2003 with a following appearance at the With Full Force Festival in Germany on 5 July 2003. This reunion was intended to be a one-off as Chandler went back to Debris Inc. until that band "stopped being fun" and dissolved in 2005. Southern Lord Records would reissue V''' and '''Live on CD and vinyl in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Saint Vitus would reform in 2008 after the dissolution of Debris Inc. along with an offer to perform at the 2009 edition of Roadburn Festival with the same lineup as the 2003 reunion. While drummer Armando Acosta performed the Roadburn set with Vitus, he would be dismissed from the band afterwards due to ongoing health issues. Blood of the Sun drummer Henry Vasquez would serve as his replacement, his first performance with the band at the 2009 edition of Hellfest. The band also performed three dates in Germany, Hellfest and a short tour of the United States that year. Lillie: F-65 (2010 - 2014) In February 2010, Chandler stated that there was talk of Saint Vitus recording new material, but there were no concrete plans at the time.The ObeliskAccessed 14 February 2017 However, according to frontman Scott "Wino" Weinrich, "we're writing some stuff right now. Everybody's pretty busy. I know I've been busy. The Wino band is pretty much on hiatus right now. So it looks like we'll be doing some recording in the near future. The bottom line is we would like to do a new record. There's talk about it. We've already been floating around a couple ideas. So yeah, somewhere down the line there will be a new Vitus record in the cards." In March 2010, Wino revealed to the German edition of Metal Hammer magazine that Saint Vitus were without a record label, and had only written one new song so far, but that a full-length studio effort from the group would likely surface within the next 12 months at the time. In the meantime, the band toured Europe and the United States throughout 2010. SST would push reissues of the first four albums including a CD compilation entitled Hallow's Victim/The Walking Dead, neither of which had seen a CD release previously. On 25 November 2010 founding member Armando Acosta died of arterial complications, aged 58. Saint Vitus' tour of Europe that December was dedicated in his memory.The ObeliskAccessed 14 February 2017 Saint Vitus toured the United States in 2011 with Helmet and Crowbar in what was known as Metalliance, their first full US tour since 1993. The band would debut a new song on this tour entitled "Blessed Night" and begin work on a new album once the tour ended. On 27 April 2012 the band released Lillie: F-65, their first album in 17 years and their first to feature Wino in 22 years. The band would tour heavily in support of the album throughout North America, Europe and for the first time (2013) in Australia. Season of Mist would re-issue C.O.D. and Die Healing on CD and Vinyl. In 2014, Saint Vitus would tour North America (With Sons of Huns) and Europe (With Orange Goblin for their 35th Anniversary tour. As a special bonus, the band would perform Born Too Late in it's entirety. On 9 November during the European leg, Wino would be arrested and deported from Norway for drug possession. MetalSucksAccessed 14 February 2017 This would force Dave Chandler and various guest vocalists to fill in for the remaining dates and Wino would later issue an apology to the fans.The ObeliskAccessed 14 February 2017 The Return of Scott Reagers (2015 - Present) On 23 February 2015 the band would announce a tour of Europe with original vocalist Scott Reagers, his first full shows and tour in 20 years.The ObeliskAccessed 14 February 2017 The band would mainly play material from the first two albums and Die Healing along with the song "Born Too Late". A tour of North America with Witch Mountain and The Skull followed the next year along with a string of European festival performances. Season of Mist would release Live Vol. 2 on 23 September 2016, featuring Wino on vocals at a 2013 live performance in Luxembourg. Saint Vitus would follow into 2017 with two tours of Europe and appearances at all four editions of DesertFest that year. As of 2016 original bassist Mark Adams has left the group for health-related reasons. This would be later revealed in 2018 to be Parkinson's Disease, to which Chandler held benefit pages to support his bandmate.Gofundme Patrick Bruders has since taken over as bassist starting with his performance at the 2016 Hammer of Doom Festival. On the fall 2017 tour it was announced that the band had a new studio album in the works with Scott Reagers on vocals and have recently placed a new song entitled "Bloodshed" into their live sets. Saint Vitus would take a year off touring to concentrate on the next album, which would be recorded in November. On 27 February 2019 the band would announce their ninth album titled Saint Vitus. Set for a 17 May 2019 release via Season of Mist it's notably their first album with Patrick Bruders, their first album after a seven-year gap and the first to feature original singer Scott Reagers in nearly 25 years. The band also released a single entitled "12 Years in the Tomb".The Obelisk Discography Studio Albums *'Saint Vitus' (1984, SST) *'Hallow's Victim' (1985, SST) *'Born Too Late' (1986, SST) *'Mournful Cries' (1988, SST) *'V' (1990, Hellhound) *'C.O.D.' (1992, Hellhound) *'Die Healing' (1995, Hellhound) *'Lillie: F-65' (2012, Season of Mist) *'Saint Vitus' (2019, Season of Mist) Live Albums *'Live' (1990, Hellhound) *'Reunion 2003 - Live in Chicago' (2007, Claude and Elmo) *'Marbles in the Moshpit' (2012, Buried By Time and Dust) *'Live Vol. 2' (2016, Season of Mist) *'Let The End Begin' (2016, Hankenstein) EPs *'The Walking Dead' (1985, SST) *'Thirsty and Miserable' (1987, SST) *'Saint Vitus Live' (2012, Scion A/V) Singles *'War Is Our Destiny' (1985, SST) *'Saint Vitus / Born Too Late' (2011, Volcom) *'Blessed Night/Look Behind You' (2012, Season of Mist) *'The Waste of Time/Get Off My Back' (Split with The Casualties) (2013, Scion A/V) Compilations *'Heavier Than Thou' (1991, SST) *'The Walking Dead/Hallow's Victim' (2010, SST) Members Current Members *'Scott Reagers' Vocals (1978 – 1986, 1994 – 1996, 2010 (Guest), 2015 - Present) *'Dave Chandler' Guitar (1978 – 1996, 2003, 2008 – Present) *'Patrick Bruders' Bass (2016 - Present) *'Henry Vasquez' Drums (2009 - Present) Former Members *'Scott Weinrich' Vocals (1986 - 1991, 2003, 2008 - 2014, 2016(Guest)) *'Chritus Linderson' Vocals (1991 - 1994) *'Armando Acosta' Drums (1978 - 1996, 2003, 2008 - 2010)(deceased) *'Mark Adams' Bass (1978 – 1996, 2003, 2008 – 2016) Tours NOTE: All known tours are listed and more will be added when the information is found. *'December 1984 North American Tour' (With Black Flag) (1984) *'August 1985 North American Tour' (With Black Flag) (1985)WestwordAccessed 14 February 2017 *'Winter 1985-1986 North American Tour' (With The Brood) (1985/1986) *'Born Too Late North American Tour' (1987) *'Mournful Cries North American Tour' (1988) *'1989 European Tour' (1989) *'1990 European Tour' (With Cathedral) (1990) *'Children of Doom Tour' (With Cathedral) (1992) *'1993 North American Tour' (With Internal Void) (1993) *'Die Healing European Tour' (With Revelation) (1995) *'2003 Reunion Shows' (2003) *'2009 Reunion Tour' (2009)Brooklyn Vegan *'Bring The Doom' (With Centurion's Ghost) (2010)The ObeliskAccessed 14 February 2017 *'June 2010 Mini-Tour' (With Stone Axe) (2010)Blogspot *'December 2010 European Tour' (2010)TShirt SlayerAccessed 14 February 2017 *'Metalliance 2011' (With Crowbar, Helmet) (2011) Metal OdysseyAccessed 14 February 2017 *'Lillie: F-65 Tour (Spring)' (2012) *'Lillie: F-65 European Tour' (2012) *'Lillie: F-65 North American Tour' (With Weedeater, Sourvein) (2012)The ObeliskAccessed 14 February 2017 *'2013 European Tour' (With Mos Generator)The ObeliskAccessed 14 February 2017 *'2013 Australian Tour' (2013) *'2013 Autumn North American Tour' (2013)Mercer Rock *'35th Anniversary Tour (North American Leg)' (With Sons of Huns) (2014)MetalSucksAccessed 14 February 2017 *'35th Anniversary Tour (European Leg)' (With Orange Goblin) (2014)Official PageAccessed 14 February 2017 *'The Return of The Walking Dead' (2015) *'2016 North American Tour' (With The Skull, Witch Mountain) (2016) *'2017 European Tour (April/May)' (With Tombstones) (2017)The ObeliskAccessed 28 March 2017 *'2017 European Tour (October)' (With Mos Generator) (2017) *'40 F'n Years European Tour' (With Dopelord) (2019) External Links *Official Website *Rabbits Interview *Hammer Smashed Sound Interview References Category:Band Category:Doom Metal Category:Wino Category:Dave Chandler Category:Maryland Category:California Category:USA Category:Southern Lord Records Category:Los Angeles Category:Mark Adams Category:Armando Acosta Category:Henry Vasquez Category:Scott Reagers Category:SST Records Category:Hellhound Records